Colorado Adds Open-Source Exemption to Age-Verification Bill (linuxiac.com) 26
Colorado's "age-attestation" bill left the House committee with new exemptions for open-source operating systems, applications, code repositories, and containerized software distribution, reports the blog Linuxiac:
[The bill] focuses on operating system providers and application stores. Its main requirement is that these providers supply an age-related signal via an interface, so applications can determine whether a user is a minor... System76 founder Carl Richell shared on Fosstodon that the updated bill now includes "a strong exemption for open source distros and apps" and has passed in the House committee. He also quoted the key part, which says Article 30 does not apply to an operating system provider or developer that distributes software under license terms that let recipients copy, redistribute, and modify the software without restrictions from the provider or developer... This wording covers Linux distributions and many open-source applications without linking the exemption to any specific project, company, or ecosystem.
The amendment also excludes applications from free, public code repositories from being considered covered applications. It also excludes code repository providers and containerized software distribution from being defined as covered application stores. This is meant to prevent platforms like GitHub, GitLab, Docker, or Podman-based distributions from being treated like commercial app stores under the bill.
"There are more steps but we're on our way to protecting the open source community," Richell posted on Fosstodon, "at least in Colorado."
The amendment also excludes applications from free, public code repositories from being considered covered applications. It also excludes code repository providers and containerized software distribution from being defined as covered application stores. This is meant to prevent platforms like GitHub, GitLab, Docker, or Podman-based distributions from being treated like commercial app stores under the bill.
"There are more steps but we're on our way to protecting the open source community," Richell posted on Fosstodon, "at least in Colorado."
Cool (Score:3)
But will my TV still need to validate my age in order to operate at all? That's still an "operating system" that is closed source.
Re: (Score:2)
So just don't use the "smart" features of it. Plug in a fob or raspberry and just use it as a monitor with built in speakers. Problem solved.
Re: (Score:2)
Until those need the same thing after an update.
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
Re: (Score:2)
> So just don't use the "smart" features of it. Plug in a fob or raspberry and just use it as a monitor with built in speakers. Problem solved.
Until the smart features include turning on the TV.
Re: (Score:1)
"So just don't..." arguments about technology always seem so naive, and this one is no exception. Smart TV manufacturers don't care about edge cases, they care about making sales, developing annual recurring revenue (ARR), and avoiding liability. Acting as a dumb terminal only marginally helps the first item while hindering the latter two. Likely, most manufacturers will probably require you to use an app or their website to setup/register your TV (and to manage it thereafter). Plenty of other consumer prod
Wonderful! (Score:2)
So, the kids can find FOSS alternatives to Tiktok and still post their booty videos and chat with perverts on Facebook or whatever.
So, what changed?
How does allowing FOSS alternatives keep the kids safe?
If the kid isn't old enough, just use their older sibling to get through the age thing.
They've made it complicated to where someone like me (whose FB password was hacked and the recovery stuff was changed by the hacker, can't rejoin because I don't know how to do the selfie camera thing to verify myself, or
Re:Wonderful! (Score:5, Interesting)
None of this is about keeping kids safe. It's just baby stepping our way to killing anonymous Internet browsing and posting. The end goal is to force everyone to use government ID to do anything online.
Re: (Score:2)
"Of course, we've gotta keep the kids safe! So, we need the kids SSN, Voter ID, ID card, 360 face cam, thumbprint, blood sample (for DNA), full-body x-rays and pics to make sure that they are kids"
(I take my phone to my sibling and use their info)
Well, of course... anonymous browsing has to die! They could be discussing drug deals or planning attacks! (Although, they (the governments) can read it in plain-text, like we can (even the "encrypted stuff")... they assume that the ones who use 'anonymous brows
Re: (Score:2)
Anonymous shitposting is a human right. I hold this truth to be self-evident.
Re: (Score:2)
Trillian was never hard to find, and I'm sure the modern-day equivalent (I'd bet there is one) is just as easy to find if I searched for it (just look for a Facebook Messenger alternative).
Of course, the kids know more... they were raised on this stuff, the parents only knew it back "in the day" when it became a thing. The kids have coasted through the changes, the folk's are just dumped into the new stuff head-first.
The "locked down" laptop or tablet they get from school is one search away from being unlo
Re: (Score:2)
If you do it with the OS, the OS keeps the information away from Facebook and such.
If you run F/OSS, then the website needs the personal information to do the age verification. Right now, this is the standard and everyone has to send in their drivers license and stuff for verification to third parties.
Lawmakers wanted to push it to the OS - Google, Microsoft, Ap
Re: (Score:1)
Keeping kids safe isn't the intent, but especially in this case, the intent is to keep FOSS safe from "won't someone think about the kids?" legislators.
If the agenda suddenly becomes "let's have the government make kids be safe" then we won't see bills like this anymore. The bills will be about mandatory education in detecting scams, con artists, Republicans, etc so that if approached by ne'er-do-wells on line, the kids will know to (and how to) Just Sa
Re: Kill the bill (Score:2)
Mandatory cancer (Score:2)
Something people need to understand... (Score:3)
... is that regardless of how you personally feel about AI and LLMs, one consequences of their arrival on the scene is that there is no longer any need to be afraid to try a new operating system. Even the most arcane Linux command lines, utilities, and operating procedures have been mastered by agentic LLMs at this point. Tell the LLM what you want your computer to do, and it will happen.
In fact, the choice of operating system really doesn't matter anymore, as long as what little legacy software you still need to run is available.
This will turn out to be a bigger deal than it looks like at first. If you're a kid (or anyone else) who wants to use a computer without mandatory accounts or age verification, go ahead and ditch Windows and MacOS in favor of whatever Linux or BSD variant looks good to you.
Well, until the federal bill passes, anyhow (Score:3)
Ridiculous (Score:2)
Unified solutuon (Score:2)
Please all make it the same